Bug Bowl II? Pack your repellent for Saturday

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M’s attendance last Saturday night at Kyle Field was about 7.4 million, by my unscientific estimation.

That was 74,000 fans, plus the addition of countless winged creatures that gave the upper decks fits in the second half of the Aggies’ 38-30 victory over Utah State. Trust me, from our ninth-floor view from the press box, it was downright biblical (and thank goodness for that glass partition).

One longtime press-box observer joked that fans — especially ones seated in the vicinity of the light standards — weren’t always waving their 12th Man towels to yell on the defense, but in self defense. During the Bug Bowl.

It rained much of last week before the Utah State game, and so far it’s rained plenty this week, so maybe some of the good folks in A&M’s famed entomology department can give me a heads up if that means the bugs will be back this Saturday.

I also asked the other good folks over at A&M on Tuesday if fans can bring insect repellent to this Saturday’s game against UAB (not sure if it will help, but it couldn’t hurt).

“Yes,” replied director of events Steve Miller. “(It’s) a permissible item to brought in. We would encourage fans to utilize the repellent which comes in the handy wipe size so they can transport it in their pocket, so as to avoid a bag check line, if they are bringing it in a backpack or bag.”

I also suspect athletic director Bill Byrne will address the Bug Bowl in his online Wednesday Weekly today.

As a press conference “ender” on Monday — trust me, I waited until we got the questions about injuries and redshirts and left tackles out of the way — I asked coach Mike Sherman if he had to swat away any bugs late in Saturday’s game.

“I didn’t even know about it until I read the paper, and Dave South told me they had about 1,000 crickets up in his booth,” Sherman said of the longtime, venerable “Voice of the Aggies.” “I think they were doing half of the announcing for him up there. I think the fans maybe liked it a little bit more.”

Sherman, a longtime friend of South’s, was kidding, of course. I know one particularly huge moth landed (and stayed) on the glass in front of me, partially obstructing my view of the field. So don’t blame me for that game story in last Sunday’s paper.

• Speaking of radio, A&M passed along that Saturday’s 6 p.m. game will be on KTKR 760 AM in San Antonio and KODA 99.1 FM in Houston. Both broadcasts start at 5 p.m.

Man, KODA’s “easy listening” was brutal on a kid growing up in Spring back in the 80s, especially when his parents occasionally mixed it in on rides in the Delta 88 over to the grandparents’ home in Humble.